I am supposed to be studying now, but I found the pictures in my computer and I decided to just do one post.  Just one!  Although I’ve been hooked on to this machine like an addiction.

Here’s introducing the TEDDY BEAR ♥  After reading this post, many of you will probably realise it’s not as difficult as you thought to sew up a teddy bear!  Same goes for any plushies.  What’s important is really the pattern.

In my case, I did not do up the pattern on my own!  I came across a DIY set in Minitoons and bought it (:   When I saw the set in Minitoons, I immediately bought it because I had so many ideas running through my head!  As soon as I got home, I opened it up and embarked on sewing my first teddy bear.

That’s the completed head!  Without the face details, that is.  And if you’re wondering, it isn’t very big!  I’m holding it between two fingers!

Rest of the body parts, not assembled, yet!  The 2 hearts actually have my friend’s and my name on them to be inserted on the body (ala build-a-bear) but they were too big ):

Pinned (ouch?) together, ready to be stitched up!  (:  Time for me to get his clothes done!  The set did come with some t-shirt and shorts patterns but they were to be made with felt and I didn’t quite dig that idea.  Instead, I bought my own materials from spotlight and played around designing patterns till I got what I wanted!

A plain white tee!  The neck area was still raw when I took this picture.  Yet to hem it.

Net up I designed a orange hoodie!  I really love this hoodie because it turned out really cute ♥  Designing it saw me taking my own hoodies and carefully examining how they were stitched up.  There’s a little button-like thing (what are they called?) at the bottom so the hoodie can be unbuttoned!  Also, there’s a hood and I cut two small holes so that the ears of the bear can go through it.

The outer jacket!  You can see the hood of the orange hoodie here (:  This is the jacket without the details sewed on.  Also, in the background, you can see the picture of Alexander (from U-Kiss – who I gave the bear to) which I modelled the attire of the bear after.  I also gave it red pants made of felt.  Not exactly the best quality but it was temporary!

The details of the jacket.  As you can see, the jacket looks raw.  That’s because I had to re-do the white layer, so that I could sew on the blue layer properly.  I didn’t quite take pictures at every step so this is all I have ><  The white material frayed really badly and gave me a huge headache!  Eventually I gave up and glued down the fraying ends on the inside with my trusty UHU glue and that worked wonders.

Tadah~!  I gave it a face!  And jeans, too.  But it’s not complete yet…

He had a pair of Ray-Ban Wayfarer sunnies on his tee neck in the MV so I made one!  It’s resting on my finger, that’s how tiny it is!  I made the lenses out of clear plastic and used felt + wire + glue to do the rest of the sunnies.  Then I clipped it on to the bear’s shirt, like how we would on ours (;

The final look!  Stringed a dogtag with Alexander’s name on it around its neck and it’s ready to go off to Korea…

But we worried that it’ll get hungry (haha) so I sewed some miniature dimsum and put it in the box with it!  My computer refuses to let me upload the photos, though!

Doing this post took me more time than expected so I have to scurry off to bed soon!  Goodnight ^^

]]> http://misulga.wordpress.com/2009/10/22/teddy-bear/feed/ 4 misulga SANY1380 SANY0600 SANY0614 SANY0617 SANY0634 SANY0641 SANY0660 SANY0831 SANY1332 SANY1331 SANY1380 http://misulga.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/what/ http://misulga.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/what/#comments Fri, 16 Oct 2009 02:07:30 +0000 misulga http://misulga.wordpress.com/?p=28 ]]> I know I just started this.

But I’m thinking of stopping and moving to tumblr.

I can’t make up my mind orz.

I wanted to post about my teddy bear making (especially the first, and very special one!) but all my pictures are in my old notebook, so I’ll make-do with some other post

This bear up there was sewn for my mum on Mother’s Day! (:  The final product was hugging a pink heart shape that says ‘Happy Mother’s Day!’ ^^

I’m pretty new into the plushie sewing scene.  If I’m not wrong, the first plushie I made was for my best friend, a sheep!  Then followed by that I made 3 (ugly-looking) dolls for my 3 best friends in JC when it was nearing the exams.  So far, I’ve mostly worked with felt or towels, and details are usually thread.  For my teddy-bear (I call him Alexbear ) though, he has a costume, which did require much much much more work, but was a whole lot of fun to sew too! (:  Urgh can’t wait to get the pictures and share them!

I have a livejournal account and I love livejournal communities!  I recently stumbled across this community called cute_plush and I love it!  I love just looking at the cute plushies other people have created ♥  Of course, getting inspiration from them too ;D

Another method (?) of plushie making I’d like to learn would be Amigurumi.  I’ve seen books teaching this in the craft store near my house.  I love that craft store!  It’s a really small stall with some ladies running it and it has almost everything I want! (:  They have books you can rent or photocopy designs from too, although I personally have not tried them.  Recently I saw a book on Amigurumi there while shopping for my crochet supplies and I wanted to loan it, but it was in Japanese and I didn’t really understand crochet terms yet so I decided to let it wait.

Oh, what is Amigurumi, you ask?

Amigurumi (編み包み^?, lit. Knitted stuffed toy) is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small stuffed animals and anthropomorphic creatures. The word is derived from a combination of the Japanese words ami, meaning crocheted or knitted, and nuigurumi, meaning stuffed doll.^[1] Amigurumi are typically cute animals (such as bears, rabbits, cats, dogs, etc.), but can include artistic renderings, and inanimate objects endowed with anthropomorphic features. Amigurumi can be either knitted or crocheted. In recent years crocheted amigurumi are more popular and more commonly seen.

You can read more about Amigurumi from its Wikipedia page!  I don’t know how to knit (YET!) so I’m aiming to do the crocheted ones (:  Soon soon!

For now, I have to get down to finishing my Math & Chemistry tutorials.  And deal with my aching teeth from the seperators (I’m in the process of getting my braces done!).  Can’t wait for the school break so that I can start making stuff again! (:

That is totally the story of my life.  I’m a Science (Chemistry) major but I love Art.  Maybe not so much of the Fine Arts, but art in general.  I consider many things Art, including Chemistry, but it’s hard to explain ;p

I do all sorts of art in my free time. Drawing, sketching, painting, sewing, crocheting etc. They vary according to my mood, mainly. Sometimes I draw cute little cartoons, or paint abstract pieces. They’re far from professional and it’s not very nice but I love doing them

Since young, I’ve loved art alot. I never really took it seriously as it was just a hobby of mine, hence I’ve never gone for classes. Oh, okay I did go for class when I was in childcare. I was only 5 or 6 then, and while the rest of the children were having their nap times, I would go upstairs in the Church building to attend art classes once a week (: (I spent the rest of the nap times being forced by my teacher to finish lunch ;~;)

In Primary 1, I joined the school’s chinese calligraphy club, where I’d go to school every Saturday and sit there with my brush, writing Chinese words I couldn’t even read. Up till today I still know how to hold the brush but it just wasn’t my thing and I quit the class shortly. In Primary 2 or 3, I joined the school Art Club where every Saturday just involved us sitting in a classroom and drawing/painting to whatever the theme was. One day I took part in a drawing competition and I was the only one who voted my for my drawing. I drew a carnival with a (ugly) clown in the foreground and ferris wheel in the background. We had three votes each, I casted one for myself and that was the one and only vote. I quit the Art Club after that and joined the Choir. Eventually I ended up in the Brass Band, and have been a Band member ever since.

Since then, I decided art was just my hobby. I didn’t top the school in Art, I didn’t get A for Art all the time, but it’s okay, I enjoy doing it (: Hence, my art pieces usually contain random drawings I do on scrap paper and stick in my journal, or done in my journal itself. They also consist of alot of presents, because I enjoy giving people handmade stuff ;D

Personally, I found Art really expensive. All the materials, the tools… They cost alot. But I’ve come to realise that it does not have to be expensive~! As long as you keep your eyes peeled, there are art materials everywhere I used to be really unsatisfied with some of my art pieces too. I still get unsatisfied, to be honest. Well! I’ll post them nonetheless and hopefully some wise guy will stumble my little blog and offer me opinions 8D/

Misulga (미술가) is Korean for ‘Artist’.  If you’ve read my previous post, you’ll know that I love all things Korean.  So hence, I’ve combined both, coming up with the name of this blog.  As simple as that (:

Not gonna lie, this is exactly what brought me into the scene of ~Korea~  I remember, it was during a flight to New Zealand, in 2007, when I watched this movie.  I really liked it, despite people saying it was lousy, and I especially liked the MV (Wonder Boy by Super Junior) played at the end.  On the flight back to Singapore, I watched the movie again and when I got home, I immediately went on YouTube and searched for the MV, as well as find out more about the group.

From then on, I was sucked into the whirlpool of K-pop.  It just led on from one fandom, to another, to another, and another.  I spent nights after nights watching videos on YouTube and listening to K-pop.  I totally loved it, and I still do.  Today, I’ve strayed away from fangirling pretty much, but I’m still hooked on to all things Korean.  Through K-pop, it sparked my interest in the Korean language, the Hangul system and Korean culture.  I was never a language person, seeing how I hated studying Chinese, and never was interested in culture of any sorts.  However, something in the Korean culture appealed to me and of course, I won’t deny that K-pop did play a huge part.

Seeing how I was in my 2nd year of Junior College, I had to focus on my studies and hence delayed my learning of the Korean Language.  I could barely read or write Korean, but let’s just say my entire of 2008 was spent being a fangirl.  Yes, I’m proud of being a fangirl, I’m not ashamed to be one (:  Towards the end of 2008, I started gaining interest in other things Korean.  I finally got to try Korean food (honestly, Korean food does not look appealing to one who has not tried it!  But once you try it, even pictures make you hungry.) and my parents gave us the chance of going to Korea when they agreed for it to be our family trip’s destination.  The above picture was taken in Korea!

After spending 2 weeks in Korea – and enjoying every single moment of it – I got more and more attracted to it.  Returning to Singapore, I wanted to go back very badly, and I still do.  But most of all, I really wanted to learn the language.  I didn’t get down to learning it right away, as I contemplated between attending a language school, or just signing up at the community center.  Eventually in March, I registered for the Korean Language Stage 1 programme at the CC and began weekly lessons.  My teacher is a translator for Korean Air, and a very nice lady (:  Our class was quite big, with about 20 students.  I picked up the language pretty quickly, as watching numerous Korean variety shows and listening to Korean songs did help a lot.  After 12 weeks of lessons, our classes came to an end, but my Korean was still not good, but at least I could construct simple sentences.  We had about a month’s break in between before Stage 2 began, and I tried learning Korean online on my own, as well as reading Korean Entertainment news articles etc.  I have since completed Stage 2 and most definitely, my Korean has improved by leaps and bounds.

I am an active U-Kiss fan and I run a Singapore-based forum for them, together with a few other (awesome) girls.  I’ve died down as a fangirl over this year, although I still do keep up with Korean Entertainment news (:  Thanks to running a forum, I’ve taken to translating messages from the members, as well as news articles related to them.  It’s definitely helped me to a great extent!  I’ve also had chances to interact with other Korean fans (although not much) and of course, learnt a little Internet language ;D

I aim to be able to speak Korean fluently soon, as I realise my Korean abilities are really limited to non-verbal communication.  Yes and I’ve been given the chance to go to Korea again at the end of this year! ^^  It’s only been half a year since I started learning Korean (trust me, my Korean skills were really non-existant before that) and I’m trying not to be too ambitious, so I’ll take it slow (:  I’m not taking formal classes now, but I go for the Korean Language Program at NTU, which is actually held by our Korean exchange students, and it’s not quite lessons but we learn things from them (:

That’s been a lot of words, more for me to read back next time – I love reading my old posts to see the change – but also to share it.  If you’ve read till here…  *hands you a cookie*! (:

Teddy bear!  This is a picture of it at it’s not-so-complete stage yet.  That’s my hand holding it so as you can see, it’s actually pretty small.  I have made 3 of these teddy bears to date, and I love making them!  I’ll do a post on my teddy bear making process soon!

Drawing in my organiser.  It’s of Alexander from the Korean boyband U-Kiss holding the above mentioned teddy bear.  Yeah  It was a quick sketch but I think it turned out pretty good.  I coloured it in using watercolour pencils, but the paper quality isn’t good so the water kind of ruined it  Pardon the poor quality though, I took it with the webcam.  If you’re wondering, I use a plain book and draw in my weekly schedules to turn it into a organiser.  Will do my organiser post, soon!

I’ll be totally honest and tell you the real reason which drove me to really getting this wordpress going.  I attended the first Korean Language lesson by my university’s Korean Cultural Society (which I am part of), and it was the Intermediate Stage 2 class.  After attending it, I realised that no matter how good I am at writing and reading Korean, I’m really, really terrible when it comes to speaking and listening to Korean.  But besides realising how bad I am, I met Shanna, who is a fellow student in our class of 4.  She runs her own blogs and I read a few posts and just, wow I’m pretty amazed at her dedication to learning the language.

On the other hand, I am overly ambitious.  Well, at least I get that from some people.  I want to master Korean, sewing, baking, cooking, drawing, painting, photoshop and pretty much everything!  Ironically, my major is Chemistry.  That’s not the worst, while I seem to be inclined towards the Arts, my best subject is actually Mathematics.  I’m pretty much what the call the ‘Jack of all trades, Master of none’.

So yes, I want to start this wordpress going again, with it’s initial purpose which I had since 2 months ago.  I want to keep track of my process in picking up all these skills – or rather, I call them my hobbies – so that I can look back at them in future (:

I’m hoping I’ll have the discipline to get this going~  It’s been something I wanted to do for a long time, since I regularly follow bloggers (especially food bloggers ) and I’m really inspired by them.

아자 아자!

I’ll get down to doing my first update soon